walnut box

[Margaret Turco]

Hi guys,

I used George Perzel's wood and Lee Deraud's program to make this little box. I embedded rare earth magnets in the front edge as a catch.

I want to give it to a friend to hold fishing flies and I was hoping to engrave a fish image on it. On my test engraving though, it did not give very good contrast on the walnut. Picture #1 is more like the true color of the wood. I finished with natural Danish oil and finishing wax. The wood is so pretty I don't want to mess it up....

I tried various color filling techniques I found here and I'm not satisfied. Do you think I should just leave it alone? If I make another one I'll use a lighter colored wood on the exterior so I have a better chance at engraving with good contrast. I'll be putting a foam insert inside the interior for the flies so it won't be visible.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

[Frank Corker]

Magaret, have you considered getting a couple of sheets of veneer and doing a nice inlay of a a fish on the top? The contrasting colours could look fantastic.

[Margaret Turco]

Hi Frank, Yes, I've been thinking of that but I haven't done an inlay before. Maybe I'll do a practice piece first. Gives me an excuse to go to the woodworking store and get some veneer. Would you suggest I go for adhesive backed, or glue it in? If I have to do a lot of sanding I may just have to refinish the top.

[Dave Johnson29]

I used George Perzel's wood and Lee Deraud's program to make this little box. I embedded rare earth magnets in the front edge as a catch.


Wow Margaret what a really fine piece of work. Mortised corners and all.

I am ashamed to admit that since the invention of wafers I have been very lazy but that looks so good. I almost wish I fly fished. :eek::D

[Margaret Turco]

Thanks Dave! The laser cutting part was really easy. The measuring and sanding took way too long, but this is the first one I've done. You can buy these for like $30 but I wanted to give it a shot.

[Steve Clarkson]

Margaret,

That turned out beautiful!

When you say that you can buy one for $30.....does that mean it cost you more to make it? If you don't mind me asking....how much did it cost in materials and how long did it take?

I've practiced with some inlays, and I love the way it looks.....I'd take Frank's advice.

Oh.....how about those wood thins......I've never used them, but maybe that would be easier than doing the inlay.

[Bill Keehn]

Margaret, consider this idea...

Using a light colored veneer, cut out a circle and put a darker fish inlay inside the circle. You'll probably find it a lot easier to inlay a circle into your lid rather than a complicated shape, at least your first time out.

[Margaret Turco]

Thanks Steve! I saw some online when I googled "walnut fishing fly box". I would say with the time it took me that it cost more than that, but as I said, this first one is to work out the bugs so naturally it took me a long time. I got the wood from George Perzel in a drawing a couple of months ago. I probably spent a couple of hours sanding and finishing, etc.

Bill, thank you too! That idea sounds like a winner to me and will be a lot easier for me to deal with. I was concerned about how rough the surface is after engraving for an inlay, but an insert should solve that problem.

[Frank Corker]

Margaret, here is a simple design for the Pisces sign, it's eps so you can ungroup it, resize and remove/flip either around or split it. Could look very nice on there.

[Mike Null]

Margaret

Nice work.

Here's an image of a striped bass I've used before. Just change some colors and it'll give you a good engraving.

[Stephen Beckham]

Margaret,

On my walnut pieces - I give it a nominal burn depth on the finished surface. Before wiping the smut off, I use simple KIWI Leather Dye. Dab on and use windex to wipe off. The windex will remove the dye from the finished surface (unetched parts) and the smut at the same time.

I've tried wiping off the smut first, but it seems to cause the dye to come out lighter in the burned sections. The other advantage to leaving it on is that it creates an additional barrier for the wood to keep the dye off.

Depending on surface finish, you may need to recoat or put some revitilizing oil (Murphy's, Pledge or some other brand) to cover and give the shine back that the windex will dull. On others, the windex won't hurt at all and you'll be done at wiping step.

Good luck.

[Margaret Turco]

Wow, thank you Frank and Mike for the files. I'll experiment with them both. Thanks Steve B. for the tip on the leather dye also, I hadn't tried that one yet.